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Overage athletes are using Aadhaar cards to pass off as junior players in Khelo India

Mufeed Mahdi Rizvi

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter,” goes the famous saying, often attributed to the writer Mark Twain. But when you connect age to Indian sports there are a lot of issues that matter. As the curtains fell on the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) yesterday, there were numerous complaints of age fraud.

| Mumbai Mirror | Jan 21, 2019, 12:35 IST

(This story originally appeared in on Jan 21 , 2019)

This story was originally published in Mumbai Mirror on January 21, 2019.

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter,” goes the famous saying, often attributed to the writer Mark Twain. But when you connect age to Indian sports there are a lot of issues that matter. As the curtains fell on the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) yesterday, there were numerous complaints of age fraud. And the new reported cases are not only disturbing, but daring as well.

When weightlifter R Vinod (name changed) arrived for Khelo India at Balewadi in Pune he was armed with an Aadhaar card that declared him eligible to participate in the Under-17 category. But there was a small problem.

Just a couple of months ago, Vinod Raigar (name changed, again) was over 17 years of age at another tournament. Both names belonged to the same person.

Coaches and officials connected to various sports were also part of this Central Government project that looks to spot raw talent. A great initiative that comes with small snags that lead to big disillusionments. Officials associated with KIYG say it’s still a work-in-progress as far as age fraud is concerned.

We get back to R Vinod who is still standing in the registration line for KIYG, with the sacred document (the most reliable Aadhaar card) to hoodwink the organisers. The man sitting at the table to verify age took a long look at him and then his Aadhaar before rejecting him. The man is the no-nonsense Weightlifting Federation of India (WFI) general secretary Sahdev Yadav. “There were about five-six boys and girls who tried the Aadhaar trick here. It will not work with me,” an infuriated Yadav told Mirror. “I remembered this boy (Vinod) from the last tournament. So there was no way he could have fooled me,” Yadav added.

According to Yadav, he turned back over a dozen weightlifters for tweaking their age only to be a part of KIYG. Why?

Breaking down the scholarship, which continues for eight years based on performance consistency, former hockey coach Ajay Kumar Bansal, a member of the Talent Identification and Development Committee (TIDC), explained, “Out of the Rs 5 lakh, Rs10,000/month will be deposited into the athletes’ account, while the remaining will be paid for their nutrition, diet, coach fee, kitting and equipment.”

The scholarship was restricted to only U-17 athletes in KIYG’s inaugural year in 2018. This year it has been extended to many athletes from U-21 categories. The problem doesn’t lie only with weightlifters. There have been a number of complaints from parents and coaches who claim their wards have been short-changed in the biggest school games event being held in the country.

Last week when Khelo India’s men’s hockey concluded in Mumbai, Mirror had reported how the government-appointed observers Olympian Rahul Singh and former India goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan had raised this issue. They were startled at the ‘spectacular’ physical growth of a few players participating in the tournament. “There is good pool of talent in U-17 group. But I feel age restriction is very important. There were many players in the U-17 group, especially in the Haryana team, who looked well beyond the eligible age. At 17, you don’t grow that big moustache and beard. You don’t develop that good muscle as well,” Rahul had said.

Indian Boxing Federation secretary Jay Kowli and other National Sports Federations are only providing technical assistance at Khelo India. It would, however, be unfair to say that age fraud is only taking place at KIYG; the problem has been haunting Indian sport for ages. “We follow the Sports Authority of India guidelines when dealing with age verification. It is a persistent problem that needs to be looked at seriously,” Kowli told Mirror. One administrator, who refused to be named, said, “It’s all about votes in the end. Some states and coaches want to shine at the inter-state junior nationals and they’d go to any length to win it. And fielding over-age boys and girls is one way to claim supremacy over others. Not every state has indulged in this practice, but it’s an open secret at all competitions, and no one talks about it. If at all you try to create hurdles, the states will not vote for you in the federation elections. So elected administrators prefer to remain silent on this issue.”

Beacon of hope

WFI secretary Yadav, however, has taken up the task of cleaning up his sport. In Uttar Pradesh’s state competition a couple of months ago, he did not declare the results after a number of age fraud protests came to light.

“Unless I verify all the results, I will not declare the results,” he said.

Yadav was surprised at how these young athletes came up with the idea of making an Aadhaar. “I can’t believe they’d go to this level. And it’s not possible without the help of their coaches and parents either. They came with a new name, but unfortunately could not change their faces. I spotted them as soon as they stepped up before me. They all will get caught eventually. No one is going to get away with misdeeds,” Yadav said.

Yadav is a beacon of hope for all sports. He is hell-bent on fighting this menace of age fraud at any cost.

As far as the Khelo India scholarship is concerned, Bansal made it clear that it will not be a cakewalk. “All the winners will have to eventually undergo age-verification test. If someone thinks that he/she has won and will now be a beneficiary of the scheme he/ she is wrong. Khelo India will bring about big changes in the time to come,” Bansal said.

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